1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser surgery apparatus for performing surgery on a patient""s eye by irradiating a laser beam thereonto.
2. Description of Related Art
For a laser surgery apparatus for performing surgery on a patient""s eye by irradiating a laser beam thereonto, for example, a corneal surgery (keratorefractive surgery) apparatus which employs an excimer laser beam has been known. This kind of apparatus is used to correct a refractive error by irradiating an excimer laser beam onto a corneal surface for ablation of the corneal surface so as to alter a corneal curvature or to remove an affected part in the cornea. This type of apparatus requires the patient""s eye to be stabilized (fixed) by having the eye fixed on a fixation target for irradiating a laser beam onto a desired position of the patient""s eye. However, irradiation of a laser beam by using this kind of apparatus takes one minute or so at the most. The patient""s eye has to be constantly fixed from beginning to end during laser irradiation, and the tension of the patient resulting from the eye fixation puts a serious burden on him/her.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and has an object to overcome the above problems and to provide a laser surgery apparatus with which a burden on a patient is expected to be minimized, and a good result of a surgical operation is expected to be obtained.
To achieve the objects and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a laser surgery apparatus for performing surgery on a patient""s eye by irradiating a laser beam thereonto comprises irradiation means provided with an irradiation optical system for irradiating the laser beam onto the patient""s eye, control means for controlling the irradiation means, and informing means for informing the patient of at least either a first period of a laser irradiation period or a second period of the laser irradiation period or both.
In another aspect of the present invention, a laser surgery apparatus for correcting a refractive error of a patient""s eye by ablating its corneal tissue with a laser beam comprises an ablation unit which includes a laser light source emitting the laser beam and an irradiation optical system provided with an aperture of which opening region is changeable and with a projecting lens which projects the aperture on a cornea of the patient""s eye, an informing unit which informs the patient of at least either a first period of a laser irradiation period or a second period of the laser irradiation period or both, and a control unit which controls the informing unit in accordance with a change of the opening region of the aperture.
Yet, in another aspect of the present invention, a laser surgery apparatus for operating on a patient""s eye by irradiating a laser beam thereonto comprises an irradiation unit which includes a laser light source emitting the laser beam and an irradiation optical system irradiating the emitted laser beam onto the patient""s eye, an eye fixation target presenting unit which presents a fixation target for the patient""s eye fixation, and a control unit which controls the eye fixation target presenting unit to inform the patient of at least either a first period of a laser irradiation period or a second period of the laser irradiation period or both.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.